Another winter storm on the way

Last week’s winter weather was replaced by a very nice weekend as many areas saw temperatures soar into the 60s Sunday afternoon. A cold front moved through the area last night so today will be much colder than this past weekend but not a cold as we saw last week. Anther arctic front is heading towards East Texas late Tuesday into Wednesday morning followed by a disturbance in the upper atmosphere. It is the combination of these two events that will bring another round of wintry weather to East Texas.

With the event being 48 hours out a lot could change between now and then but based on the latest information, this is what will likely happen. Tuesday night a strong front will move through the area dropping temperatures to near or below freezing in out northern counties. Here it looks as though the precipitation will switch quickly from rain to snow. 2 to 4 inches of snow look to fall across our northern counties before this system rapidly moves out of the area.

For our central counties along and immediately south of I-20, precipitation looks to start off as rain. As the temperature falls to near freezing during the late morning hours, rain will start to freeze on elevated surfaces. As continue temperatures fall into the upper 20s by the early afternoon precipitation should transition to sleet, causing slick spots to develop on area roads. Late in the afternoon precipitation could change to snow for a couple hours allowing for 1 to 2 inches of snow to fall.

In our southern counties including the Lufkin and Nacogdoches areas, rain looks to be the primary precipitation form until late in the afternoon. During the late afternoon hours temperatures will drop below freezing allowing for rain to mix with sleet and freezing rain. Before the precipitation there could be a few flurries but little or no snow accumulation is expected at this time.

Again this forecast will likely change between now and Wednesday so please continue to stay tuned for the latest developments. A winter storm watch has been issued for our northwestern counties and more watches, advisories, or warnings could be issued tomorrow.